I had an antlerless tag to fill here yet in the late muzzle loader season.[Dec. 20th to Jan.10th]Winter had finally arrived with colder temps [low teens to below 0 F.] and around 10" of snow.Managed to get out quite a few times when it was'nt too windy.
Showed my Johnny Brown Hawken I used earlier,but will show it later again on this post with a link.
The bucks were still chasing yearlings around occasionally.I passed on a number of bucks and yearlings.The yearlings were pretty good sized already though with another 2 months of growth put on them.They'll have smaller heads than the older does.They all looked in fine shape.
Finally a good sized older doe gave me a shot late in the day.I was confident of the shot.Watched her run maybe 30 yards and stop while the others completely cleared out of the area.Stood there quite a few minutes and could see she was hurt bad by her body language.Could see also a lot of blood showing underneath her on the snow.She gingerly walked 50 more yards and laid down.I could see blood coming out of her mouth as she walked and knew the lungs were hit good.I continued to sit tight and watch.In a few minutes she got up and gingerly walked another 30 to 40 yards and laid down again.By now she was a good 80 yards from my stand and I decided to climb down quietly.Go to the house/clean the gun/warm up and go out later to find her.
Not so.These deer that just lay themselves down instead of crashing down uncontrollably tend to not die as quickly.A good blood trail was left from where she had been laying as she had gotten up again and walked quite a ways farther maybe 80 yards stopping along the way over a little crest of a hill moving into the bottom towards the wash.I stopped at the crest of that hill and saw her and a small group of deer with her in that bottom.The deer with her seen me and high tailed it on out of there leaving her stand by herself.
I decided to walk on out of there as it was beginning to get dark and return the next morning to follow the rest of the trail.Robin got hepped up and wanted to help too.We trailed another 80 yards or so across the wash and found her.I found her and it pissed Robin off.We can get competitive about such things.Shed hunting too.Glad she was there to help yank this doe out though.
We drug this doe out with a gadget I made years ago just for dragging does out.Makes pulling these deer out with no horns a lot easier.A foot long hedge stick with two 1/2" holes drilled through it/Eight foot of 1/2" rope/and a 3/8" slat of wood with two 1/2" holes drilled into it for a binding slider.Simply put the loop created and put it around the deers' head and slide the slider up tight, It won't move.
Big doe like I thought.Around 160 pounds.
Well that's the end of my deer season.4 deer and well over 250 pounds of deer meat.Where's the expensive beef?....In the grocery store.....ha ha.That oughta last us a while.I'm going to bring 15 to 20 pounds of summer sausage to an older couple in town.Nice people.We have a lot in common.
It was a good shot like I thought.Took the lungs out.You can see the exit hole behind her right elbow.Clicking on the picture will enlarge the picture.At least it does on my computer.
You can see compared to the buck I shot exit hole with a broadhead well over an inch wide and this doe with a round ball 1/2" wide hole blood does not exit near as freely all because the hole is so much smaller.The damage a broadhead does to the vitals is a lot more also.
Blood trailing muzzle loader shot deer at times can be more difficult than broadhead shot deer.
